The present invention relates to slot machines of the type which selects combinations of symbols at random during each game and awards prizes when predetermined prize-winning combinations occur on designated prize-winning rows and more particularly, to slot machines in which prize-winning combinations of symbols correspond to specified hands suitable for melding in a poker game.
As is well known in this art, slot machines have a plurality, for instance three, of rotatable reels each of which is provided with an annular row of various symbols on the outer peripheral surface thereof. During a game, each reel is caused to rotate, and is stopped at random at one of three possible stop positions in each of which is displayed a corresponding symbol in a window. The slot machine awards prizes when predetermined prize-winning combinations occur on designated prize-winning rows.
Because the symbols used differ among the various types of slot machines, players are often not accustomed to immediately discriminating the occurring prize-winning combinations of different symbols. Thus, the feeling of satisfaction, to say nothing of the thrill of completing a prize-winning combination, which is primarily enjoyed at the moment when the reels stop, is lost.